


A Fire Lord's Grief

by Lone_Star_Ranger



Series: Fire Lord's Night Out [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Assassins, Badass Katara (Avatar), Bloodbender Katara (Avatar), F/M, Graphic Violence, Katara needs therapy, Let's be honest bending battles would be brutal, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Protective Zuko (Avatar), Yes the character death tag is real, cliffhanger resolution, tearbending possibility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:05:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27180136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lone_Star_Ranger/pseuds/Lone_Star_Ranger
Summary: Immediately following Zuko's proposal to Jin, mysterious figures attack the Fire Nation Palace.  Battles wage while unbeknownst to all fighting, something has changed that will forever affect the course of the future.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Hakoda/Malina (Avatar), Jin/Zuko (Avatar), Noren/Ursa (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Series: Fire Lord's Night Out [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970704
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	1. Moonrise: Zuko and Jin in the Gardens

**Author's Note:**

> The three Moonrise chapters are happening at the same time.
> 
> Just to give you a preview of what to expect, here’s my wife’s review highlights:  
> “You can’t do that! Well, you can, but you shouldn’t!”  
> “You’re the kind of author who would be sipping from a mug that has ‘the tears of my readers’ printed on it.”  
> “That is heartbreaking… but it did work.”

Jin and Zuko broke apart from their kiss and smiled at each other, lost in each other’s eyes. Zuko lifted his head as he contemplated life with Jin and he stared at the stars as Jin rested her head on his chest.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zuko noticed some of the stars go dark as _something_ moved through the air. Sensing danger, Zuko spun, lifting Jin off the ground as he whirled in a circle heaving her to the edge of the courtyard as daggers flashed around him thudding into the ground. Three figures hit the ground, rolling into combat stances as Zuko placed himself between the figures and Jin. 

Jin picked herself off the ground as she watched Zuko feint right before he shifted hard left, punching fiery blasts one-two-three before dropped into a sweeping kick that sent a stream of fire racing across the ground. The figure blocked the fiery punches, dissipating them with almost contemptuous ease as his fellows began to flank around Zuko, but the fire stream sliced against the figure’s leg, dropping him heavily to the ground. The figure opened his mouth to scream but the scream was forced back into his throat by a short, sharp burst of flame that burned through to the stone floor. Zuko straightened from where he knelt next to the smoking corpse and faced off against the two assassins, red-orange flames clashing against Zuko’s nearly pure white flames flecked with different colors swirling in the night sky.

Jin stayed huddled in the corner of the courtyard and looked between her fiancé dueling two experienced firebenders and the doorway to the palace on the other side of the garden. _Where were those bodyguards? Hika and Parin were on duty tonight, she had heard them slip into the alcoves outside the garden door as Zuko walked her through… Oh, Zuko, be careful! Don’t you dare die on me now. He’s fine, just keep telling yourself that, he’s doing fine, one’s already dead and he’s doing fine._ Jin found it harder and harder to breathe as she watched the battle, the breeze and embers fluttering nearly in tune with her hyperventilating as the flames danced and crashed in an impressive display of light and heat.


	2. Moonrise: Water Tribe

Ty Lee bounced from one foot to the other, moving with a feather-like lightness, as she faced Suki who was preoccupied and studiously ignoring her. “Boogie? That’s a dance. It’s not cooties. That’s when you stay away from boys and you’re not staying away from…”

“OOGIES, Ty Lee!” Katara yelled from the door to the guest wing as she observed Sokka and Suki passionately kissing each other in the hallway while Ty Lee danced around her boss, trying to remember the right word.

“OOGIES!!! That’s right! YOU TWO HAVE THE OOOOGIES!!!”

Suki broke her kiss with a long-suffering sigh and thudded her head into Sokka’s chest. “Ty Lee…”

“Oh, bad time?” Ty Lee skipped down the hall and cartwheeled through the door “AWW! Double ooogies! Your auras are all so bright today!” 

Hakoda and Malina were cooking in the ensuite kitchen in the guest chambers while Aang and Katara were curled up together on the couch. Both couples had been in the middle of kissing when Ty Lee cartwheeled in, but while Aang and Katara jolted apart in surprise, Hakoda and Malina were barely fazed and simply returned to dishing out dinner. 

Hakoda patted Ty Lee on the arm, gesturing for the three young adults in the room to head to the table. He poked his head out of the door and smiled as he observed his son and Suki making out in the hall. Clearing his throat, his smile widened as the young couple jumped apart and faced him, flaming nearly as red as the palace architecture. “If you two are done, dinner is ready.”

As they headed in, Aang complimented Suki on her new face paint which got a round of giggles from the women in the room as Katara gently corrected her boyfriend that Suki was just blushing because she had been caught having oogies with Sokka. Banter quickly followed as they settled in for dinner. A few minutes into eating, the door crashed open as Hira, Suki’s childhood friend and second-in-command, yelled “Intruders on the roof! East Wing and Garden!”

With a clatter, the group leapt up from the table and grabbed their weapons before piling out the door with the team splitting up as Suki, Sokka, Aang, and Katara raced towards the garden while Hira led Ty Lee, Hakoda, and Malina towards the East Wing where the Royal family had their residence.


	3. Moonrise: Royal Family Residence

Noren whirled, passionately proclaiming his love as he strode across the room to Ursa, who lifted her hand to her forehead palm out to the ceiling and admitted her feelings for him as well before Kiyi sat up from bed and yelled “Cut!”

Noren laughed, “Not feeling Love amongst Dragons tonight, my little turtle-duck?”

“No. Tell me a story about an evil king getting killed! None of this oogie stuff.”

“Darling, your father and I met because of this play.”

“Still want fights.”

Noren smiled and launched into an old tale of a fire nation noble who had betrayed and murdered the Fire Lord in an attempt to seize the throne for himself. Ursa leaned against the wall, letting Noren’s voice ring and echo through the room as he adapted the play into a bedtime story. After a few minutes, she wandered out to the living room that opened to a garden courtyard. 

As she looked out to the stars, she noticed figures running across the roof before they leapt into the garden courtyard where two Kyoshi warriors spun out to meet them, one leading while the other produced a whistle and blew three sharp blasts before following. While one intruder fell quickly, the leading Kyoshi warrior was quickly overwhelmed by a swarm of sword and fire wielding figures. A larger, strangely familiar figure dropped in the garden and crushed the trailing warrior’s head with a mace. As the blood and fragments dripped off the mace head, the figure gestured and two firebenders flanked him. They both ignited their hands like torches and as the figure stepped forward so the flames sent dancing, rippling light across his face, Ursa paled and gasped. 

“Hello, my darling wife,” Ozai said, his smooth voice turning that soft-spoken greeting into a cold threat. “You won’t be able to turn your back on me this time.”


	4. Doubling-booking Assassination attempts

Zuko faced off with his two assassins with the wind swirling back and forth between them like the universe was hyperventilating. Before the assassins could break the stalemate, Zuko reached up and hit the quick-release tab on his royal robe, leaving him in a sleeveless shirt and pants. As the robe fell, Zuko snatched it and threw it to the assassin on the left. As the cloth fluttered up towards his head, Zuko leapt towards the assassin on the right and series of rapid fire bursts shot between them before they locked together as if dancing.

The assassin sneered as he began to bend Zuko’s arms back. “I’m much stronger than you, boy.”

Zuko grunted an acknowledgement before exhaling fire over the assassin’s face. As the assassin stumbled back screaming in agony before passing out on the grass, Zuko back-flipped to place himself between the final assassin and Jin. The assassin laughed as he pulled the Fire Lord’s robe around him. “Aren’t you going to bow to your lord, you insolent pup?”

Zuko narrowed his eyes. “You’re just a distraction, aren’t you?” 

The assassin posed dramatically, “Possibly. It’s nice of you to be separate from your family tonight. Killing you was a bonus.”

“You think you stand a chance against me alone?” 

“Not really.”

“Surrender then, and I’ll spare your life.”

“Not keen on the whole life in prison. Tried it once, it didn’t agree with me. Bow to me and I’ll be a merciful Fire Lord, though.

Before Zuko could answer, the door to the courtyard crashed open and seven figures in green raced in. Rocks leapt from their backpacks before being crushed into dozens of fist-sized needles and flung forward. The assassin didn’t even have time to turn before he was _shredded_ , with countless holes streaming blood and gore onto the garden grass. Zuko threw up a fire shield to block the needles and as the flames died down, everybody froze as they took in the situation; even the wind stilled as if the world decided to hold its breath. The leader of the new interlopers stepped forward and Zuko frowned. “General Fong?”

“Kill the Fire Lord!” General Fong ordered and the earthbenders all shouted back “Earth endures!” as they gathered rocks and Zuko’s hands ignited, the flames flickering as the world stopped holding its breath and the breeze began swirling again.

* * *

The Gaang rounded the corner to see more earth kingdom soldiers enter into the garden as five stood guard in the hall. 

“Earth Kingdom?” Sokka said scratching his head as he pulled out his boomerang, “Are they trying to restart the war?”

“Schist.” Suki hissed. “It’s the Earth Endurance movement. Katara, go warn the others about Earth Kingdom intruders. Sokka, follow me, we’ll go in from above.”

“Aang, who’ll have your back if I go to warn the others?”

“Sweetie, I’ll be fin…” Aang’s eyes glowed white and the form of Roku shimmered around him for a moment, “ **Go, daughter of water, we will watch him for you.** ” Roku’s form shifted to Kyoshi for a moment. “ ** _This is going to be fun._** ” The figures vanished as Aang blew Katara a kiss and leapt forward as Katara turned and ran for the other side of the palace. 


	5. Waves breaking against Rock

Hakoda and Hira cut down the two firebender intruders guarding the door who made the mistake of attacking head-on while the third intruder leapt high in the air only to be met with Ty Lee almost lazily floating by him before chi-blocking him with a rapid series of precise hits. Gravity seized the intruder who crashed to the ground in a bone-crushing heap while Ty Lee seemed to mock gravity with how lightly she landed. Hakoda kicked the door which shivered under the impact, but remained intact. Hira stepped forward with a key and unlocked the door before swiftly pushing it open. “Let’s go!”

Just then, a squad of Earth Kingdom soldiers appeared in the hallway behind them. Hakoda waved at them, standing in the junction where two hallways met with one end of the compass being the Queen Mother’s apartments. “Malina, head back, we’ll handle it from here.” Hakoda said as he turned around to enter the apartments, pausing briefly to gently peck his new wife’s lips as he entered the apartments. Malina walked towards the soldiers who were nearly at the junction. Ty Lee leapt after Hakoda while Hira hesitated seeing movement down the side hall. 

Katara erupted into view and as she recognized Hira and Malina standing in the junction, she yelled to them, “It’s Earth Kingdom soldiers! They’re the ones attacking!”

Malina and Hira froze as they studied the fifteen soldiers nearly at the end of the hall. The leader smiled sadly at the women before firing two thick needles of rock. Hira crouched as her shield expanded, catching the projectile as it shattered to dust. Another projectile thudded into the wall a little way from her, but before Hira could think about just how bad of a miss that was, the rock dart slowly began dripping blood. 

Katara saw Malina turn to face her as blood began welling up from the hole in her throat and began to sink to the ground. Katara faintly heard a woman screaming “ _NOOOOO”_ as she slid next to Malina, bending water out of her waterskin, hands already glowing as she tried desperately to stem the awful flow of blood. She barely noticed her raw throat or the dust drifting around them as Hira stood in front of them frantically blocking shot after shot, Katara’s eyes fixed on the fading light in Malina’s eyes. 

Malina reached up, her hand gently cupping Katara’s cheek, staining it red with blood. She tried to speak once, twice, but only succeded in coughing blood across the blue of Katara’s tunic. Her breath rattled before she gasped out “daughter…. Tell…Hako….I…love…” Her voice trailed off as the light faded from her eyes and her hand fell heavily to the floor, bouncing off of Katara’s shoulder on its way down. 

Katara straightened, the pain in her eyes crystallizing into rage. The earth kingdom soldiers hesitated in their barrage as Katara slowly rotated to face them. Katara spoke softly at first, but her voice gradually rose in fury. “I am Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, daughter of Chief Hakoda, blood-daughter of Kya, and bond-daughter of Malina. I am the Avatar’s teacher, the first Southern master in a generation, and the first woman to master Northern combat! I wield snow and ice as weapons, waves bow to my whim, and water answers my call no matter if it is flowing in a river, hiding in plants, or drifting as vapor in the air! Even the water that flows through our bodies obeys my will!” Katara clenched her fists in fury and all fifteen soldiers felt an ice-cold chill start in their chests before consuming their bodies. Hira watched in shock as the veins of the soldiers turned an icy-blue as the internally frozen corpses collapsed to the floor. Katara’s voice lost its rage-fueled edge as she hiccupped out with tears streaming down her face, “I…am…a…bloodbender.” Rage spent, she turned and collapsed onto Malina’s corpse, sobbing into her shoulder. 

Hira gently touched Katara’s shoulder, “It’s not over yet, Master Katara.” 

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” The anguish and grief rendering her voice raw.

Hira winced at the pain in her voice. “Your father is chasing after who knows what in there. Come with me. Let’s watch over your father.”

Katara froze as the words sunk in and pulled herself upright, grief and duty warring across her face. “Let’s go.”


	6. Royal Family Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Very oblique mention of a threatened rape and a past rape in the third section. Not graphic at all.

After screaming Ozai’s name in shock, Ursa whirled around and fled down the hallway, dropping a security gate that blocked the living room and garden as she ran. Fleeing into the master bedroom, she met Noren and Kiyi there and picked up a rapier. Noren was holding two broadswords with one hand and a grim look on his face as he laid a poetry book on Ursa’s pillow. Ursa frowned as she picked up Kiyi and they moved through the hall towards their private garden together before Noren stopped. Noren spun the blades experimentally as Ursa opened the door. She looked at Noren with concern, “They’re coming.”

“They are and they’ll know about the hidden passage. They can’t cover every exit from the labyrinth, but they’ll follow us unless they’re delayed.”

Ursa nodded as she pushed the door open, but froze as the words sunk in. “Noren, no… There’s too many of them.”

“I just have to buy time. You heard the whistle.” A crash sounded from the direction of the living room and Noren used the distraction to kiss Ursa before charging towards the living room.

“Take Kiyi and run! I love you!”

“NOREN!!”

* * *

Noren entered the living room and saw the assassins filing in over the door fragments. Noren lifted his dual broadswords and his voice, honed by years in the theater, rang out as Ozai entered the room, “By the pricking of my thumbs / Something wicked this way comes.” 

“Ah, the boy from the theatre.” Ozai gestured to one of his swordsmen. “Kill him.”

The swordsman sneered and stepped forward, chopping his blade in a high right to left descending slash intented to cleave Noren in two. _Utterly predictable_ , thought Noren as he caught the descending blade with one of his own and hit the swordsman in the jaw with the pommel of the other. As the swordsman staggered, Noren’s blades flicked out, severing both arms at the elbows before sweeping down to hack through the legs at the knees. As the limbless body began to fall, Noren’s final slice went straight through the neck, neatly removing the man’s head before he could scream. Ozai blinked as Noren’s blades sang and one of his swordsmen was hitting the ground in six pieces. 

Noren grinned at Ozai’s face and lifted his blade at Ozai. The blade slowly dripped blood as Noren called out, “Ozai, I challenge you to single combat!” 

Ozai sneered, “Arrogant peasant. I will not lower myself to honor you with single combat against the Phoenix King.” 

Noren nodded, sweeping his blades into a ready position. “Blow, wind! come, wrack! / At least we'll die with harness on our back.”

The room erupted into violence as fire and steel began another dance of death. 

* * *

Tears welled in Ursa’s eyes as she fled through the private garden; a metal roof sealing off the opening to the sky when she had dropped the security gate. As the door swung shut behind her, she heard Noren quoting lines from a tragedy before the door slammed shut.

“Where’s Daddy?”

“He’s fighting the bad men so we can escape.”

“We should fight! I’ll throw fire and you have a sword.”

“Kiyi, your father is a very skilled fighter, but if you’re there, he’ll be watching you. He wants you to run and be safe.” Ursa reached up and pulled the hidden lever that opened the door, but it opened to a wall of rock set a few feet down the passageway. Her eyes widened in shock before two earth kingdom soldiers stepped out. 

They chuckled with one stepping forward to sneer. “Our lucky day. The Queen Mother and her ash-maker spawn. Come here, my Queen, let’s have some fun.” Before the leer could even properly set on his face, Kiyi wiggled out of Ursa’s arms and landed on the ground, yelling “Don’t hurt my mommy!” Fire leapt from her little fist, lighting his hair on fire. As he yelped and shifted, Ursa stepped forward with a controlled thrust that pierced his throat and brain stem. Without any further words, the body collapsed as if the string had been cut on a puppet. Ursa turned to face the other assassin only to realize he has already encased Kiyi’s hands and feet in rocks, pinning her to the ground. He smiled at Ursa. “My apologies, my lady. His village burned when he was a child and he likes to make the Fire Nation pay in as much agony as possible. His suggestion was unseemly and ill-befitting the Earth Endurance movement.”

“Are you letting us go?” Ursa narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

“Of course not. I’m here to kill as many ash-makers as possible, but…” pain flashed across his eyes as he recalled a painful memory, “my sister’s son and my youngest brother both arrived nine months after the Fire Nation attacked and destroyed our village. I’ve seen their pain through the years and I will not inflict that pain on anybody.” 

“I suppose I should thank you for that courtesy even if you are going to try to kill me.”

“Of course, think nothing of it, but you’ll find that it won’t be much of a fight.” He gestured and the rapier blade leapt out of the handle and the metal security gates collapsed into the garden; the metal contorting itself into Earth Nation symbol. 

Ursa threw the hilt down in disgust as the metalbender strode toward her, “My lady, I’ve already checked for any more metal concealed and you have nothing, I have studied for years, every firebending technique, every weapon used by the Fire Nation, and now to kill the Queen Mother hersel….” His voice cut off in a choking gurgle as something cold and razor-sharp sliced through his throat. 

Ursa held her obsidian marriage blade to her side, letting the blood run off the keen edge. Ozai had made a mockery of the tradition by giving her a blunted and bejeweled dagger, but Noren respected her. Noren had spent hours chipping the obsidian and hand-crafting the dagger that represented her last line of defense of her home and family and was the traditional reminder to Fire Nation men to respect their wives, for they entrust their lives to them. Marriage blades were never to be drawn save for greatest danger or a blade inspection before a Fire Sage. Every girl had been drilled in this tradition since before they could walk and the Fire Nation judges looked with some sympathy on any woman forced to draw her blade. As the old saying went, “A bauble to catch their eyes, a blade to guard the brides” 

“Mommy… I can’t run.”

“I know, Kiyi. I’m sorry.”

Ursa sat next to her daughter stroking her hair with one hand, marriage blade in the other ready to fight. After all, any cornered animal was dangerous, but cornering a mama bear? That was foolishness, indeed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The marriage blade concept comes from Setari's fanfic, Like Fire and Water, linked here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11479245/chapters/25742847


	7. Out, Out, brief candle

_Arrogant peasant._ Ozai strode through the pile of bodies to where Noren lay face-down, gasping for breath on the ground. He had brought ten men inside with him after overwhelming the guards, leaving twenty behind as a rearguard to slow down the inevitable reinforcements. He calculated that the attack on his weakling son would draw more attention, allowing him time to eradicate the family that Ursa had replaced him with. However, this playwright had some skill with the blades he wielded. After the peasant hacked his swordsman apart, the other nine had swarmed the peasant, only to have the peasant hack and slash his way through Ozai’s men. After the fifth man fell, Ozai summoned half the rearguard to overwhelm that cursed peasant. Four more had fallen with a further two severely wounded before the peasant finally collapsed. 

Ozai stood over the peasant and rolled him over with his foot, but the peasant suddenly sat up, bringing his sword up from the ground in a whirling cut that hit along his side and began to sink in. The peasant’s eyes widened as his blade snapped leaving only enough steel to scratch Ozai’s bare stomach from one side to the other, rather than disemboweling him.

Ozai frowned as he pulled the broken sword blade from his side. Fortunately, it had snapped early and while pain radiated from his side, Ozai knew the blow would not be fatal and from the resigned look on the peasant’s face, so did he. “You failed, _peasant,_ ” Ozai hissed out as two of his men dragged Noren to his knees. “If this was a play, I’d reveal my entire plan in a dramatic speech that would give the guards time to assemble and stage a last minute rescue while my men and I listened to your long-winded last words, but this isn’t a play and I don’t have time for you.” Ozai flicked his wrist and the mace smashed into the side of the peasant’s head, cracking through the skull like an eggshell, blood and viscous liquid streaming in red rivers into the floor.

One of his men looked outside the ruined door, “My lord! The barbarian chief and the traitorous chi-blocker are outside. We need to get you to safety.”

Ozai frowned. “Guard the hallway here. I’ll escape through the labyrinth.”

The eight remaining men arrayed themselves in a wedge guarding the entrance to the hallway as Ozai strode away and entered the garden.

* * *

Ursa straightened upright as Ozai walked in. He smiled, all teeth like a hyena-shark, but the smile never reached his eyes.

He flicked his mace at her with disdain and blood sprinkled her and Kiyi. “Your husband and I had some words about him trying to replace me. Unfortunately, he proved… inferior.”

“You lie. You lie like you always have.”

“No, he’s dead. I squished his head like a grape and watched the juices run.” Ozai’s vicious words cut into her and Ursa swayed as the pain ripped through her soul. Kiyi whimpered beneath her and Ursa readied herself for her fight against her former spouse.

Ozai suddenly noticed the marriage blade and scoffed, “You’ll need more than a marriage blade to beat me.” He lifted his mace menacingly and advanced towards her. Ursa gauged the rate of his advance and prepared to move when suddenly a lithe figure, clad in black, came flying out of the sky, landing lightly next to Ozai. Grabbing his right arm, the figure struck the elbow with a blow that dislocated with a sound like breaking branches for firewood. A kick produced a second crack as Ozai’s knee folded in on itself. Rotating behind Ozai, the figure grabbed Oazi’s topknot and forced him into an uncomfortable kneeling position on his one good knee while his other foot awkwardly flopped in front of him. The figure rested a hand on the left side of Ozai’s face and finally broke the shocked silence of the garden.

“Thou lump of foul deformity; Thou art unfit for any place, but hell.” The ice-cold delivery contrasted to the hot blue flames that bubbled Ozai’s face before searing with blowtorch-like efficiency through his skull and brain. Azula released her father’s smoking corpse and she spat on it as it thudded to the ground. “No one touches my mother… No one!” Azula’s voice climbed into near hysteria before she drew a shuddering deep breath and looked at Ursa. “Theater was good for something after all, Mother.” Azula’s eyes rolled towards the top of her head and she took a ginger half-step towards Ursa before collapsing. Ursa ran over and dragged Azula next to Kiyi before settling down to watch over them. Tears flowed down Ursa’s face as she softly murmured repeatedly, “My girls, my beautiful girls.”


	8. The Firelord and the Avatar

Jin gasped softly as more Earth Kingdom soldiers filed in from outside and closed the garden gate. Their force had doubled and Zuko stood alone against fifteen earth benders. 

The air crackled with tension. Rocks levitated and formed into weapons. Zuko’s flames flickered. The wind whispered as it blew back and forth with increasing speed. Jin sat hyperventilating, tears prickling her eyes as she watched Zuko place himself between her and her fellow countrymen.

**BANG!**

The silence was broken as the gates exploded open and three of the rearguard left by General Fong came _flying_ in and smashed in the fountain, lying there unmoving save for shallow breaths. A moment later, a young man walked through the door. “Hey, Zuko! Sorry about your door.” Aang bounced a little on his feet as he examined the men between him and Zuko. “Seriously? Fong, this is stupid even by your standards and you deliberately tried to trigger the Avatar’s defensive state.”

Fong snarled, “You wouldn’t understand, Avatar! The ashmakers have all caused us to lose something! Homes, wives, children, mothers, fathers… we can’t replace what they took from us!”

Aang smiled sadly as the garden leaves began swirling around him as he gently manipulated them. “A nation.” His voice cracked softly, “For you all, it’s been a hundred years. For me? It’s been four years. Four years since I’ve seen my people disappear. They were there when I fell asleep and when I woke up, poof.” Aang flicked his fingers and the leaves flew away from him, burning as they drifted away. “Empty temples that should be full of laughter dancing on the wind. The sound of air bison coming back after a long trip. Mediation guided by the masters. _Everything!_ All of it gone in what felt like one night. So don’t you dare say I don’t understand because _none_ of you has lost an entire nation overnight.”

Aang drew breath to continue his rant, but his eyes glowed suddenly and the two rock spears erupting from the ground crumbled into dust. Aang frowned, “Seriously, Fong. That was a stupid attempt.”

Fong shrugged, “it might have worked. Anyway, you’re outnumbered seven to one and unless you’re willing to be reborn, surrender now.”

Aang suddenly started glowing as Roku appeared, then Kyoshi, Karuk, Yangchen, each of the previous Avatars appearing for barely a second, just long enough to be recognized. Aang’s mouth opened and his voice echoed with hundreds of voices, “ **I am not alone. Not now, not ever.** ” 

Fong’s second-in-command stepped forward. “Get of here, General! We’ll hold them off.”

Fong nodded and clasped the man’s forearm, “It’s been a pleasure leading you all. Earth Endures!” As he shouted it, the Earth benders echoed the cry and the battle was on.

* * *

Jin watched as the fifteen earth benders went up against Zuko and the Avatar in a brutal battle. Rocks flew with bone-crunching strength, but disintegrated in the two’s fiery defense. A earthbender slipped out and raced to the side of the garden before hurling a needle-shaped rock at Jin who bit her tongue to keep from screaming.

_I won’t scream, I won’t scream, I can’t distract Zuko, he’s going to be…_

**CLANG!**

Jin slowly eased one eye open when she realized the rock should have hit her by now. Suki stood in front of her, metal shield expanded and vibrating from the blow.

Zuko roared with fury at the earthbender who nearly killed Jin and tackled him with a flame-propelled leap. They rolled together before Zuko pinned the earthbender to the ground.

Aang leapt high, yelling “Zuko, don’t kill…” but his voice was lost in a roar of flame as Zuko’s fire erupted from his mouth, hands and feet with such ferocity, the earthbender was reduced to cauterized hands and a torso lying on the ground. 

Jin felt a hand seize her from behind and turned to see an earthbender rising from the ground, rocks molding into a stone dagger.

Before she could even draw breath, she heard a voice yelling, “SNEAK ATTACK!” The Earth bender looked up and side-stepped the rapidly descending blue blur.

The Earth bender sneered, “Is that the best you got, Water tribe?”

Sokka straightened, “Ah, no. Actually it’s not.”

“Really. You missed.”

“No, I didn’t”

“Yes, you…” A sharp crack resounded as the earthbender’s skull fractured under the returning boomerang. The earthbender staggered forward into Sokka’s space sword, forcing Sokka to kick the corpse to the ground. 

Sokka glanced at Jin, “On the bench, your future fire lady-ness.”

Jin grinned at the title as she climbed on the wooden bench. Suki back-flipped onto the bench and threw a second expandible shield at Sokka. “Shush! Don’t spoil anything!”

“Well, if I didn’t spoil it, you definitely just did,” Sokka responded as he stepped up to flank Jin, shield expanding and he slid it onto his right arm, holding the sword with his left hand.

“Don’t worry, Suki, he managed to propose before the assassins attacked.” Jin laughed and then snorted at the irony of laughing in the middle of a battle. 

“Only Zuko would manage to have the largest assassination attempt on the day he proposed.” Suki said, frowning with concentration as she blocked a few incoming rocks.

“Not the engagement story I wanted, but life with Zuko is never boring.”

The battle was settling down as only a few earth benders remained. General Fong sunk into the ground, sealing the hole behind him to trap Sokka’s boomerang in the ground. Suki flipped forward to chi-block an earthbender while Aang dueled the two of the three earthbenders remaining. Zuko dueled the last one and right as he landed the finishing blow, a figure lying prone on the grass behind him rose, revealing the hideously burned face and launched a fire blast at the unsuspecting Fire Lord’s back.

Time slowed.

Aang’s eyes widened, but before he could attempt something, his eyes glowed and Kyoshi guided his body through the hailstorm of rocks thrown by the earthbenders attempting to capitalize on the distraction.

Sokka’s hand slapped his side and entered a throwing motion before he remembered the boomerang was still stuck in the ground.

Suki growled as she rolled and started running, but she’d knew she wouldn’t be fast enough this time.

Zuko saw the flash out of the corner of his eye and started his defensive spin far too late.

The assassin’s charred and scorched face cracked into a grim smile as the fire roared closer and closer to Zuko.

Jin screamed and threw her hand out as if she could catch the fire.

The fire flickered and extinguished as a gale erupted from Jin’s hand.

Everybody froze.

Everybody except Suki who skidded slightly crossing through the roaring wind, but remained on target to flatten the assassin. After she delivered a solid knock-out punch, she allowed herself to feel the shock.

Jin. Was. Airbending.

Jin closed her hand and the wind died down. Zuko blinked. The friends looked around the ruined garden. “Hey, we survived!” Sokka exclaimed and ran towards Suki to embrace her.

Suki side-stepped his embrace, but pulled him to her in a brief kiss. “Sorry, gotta work now. Help me secure the surviving assassins and we need to check on the others.

Zuko walked over to Jin. “Um, thank you. That was new.”

Jin smiled shyly, looked down, and blew out the breath she had holding only to launch herself fifteen feet into the air. Aang leapt over and caught her, guiding her to a soft landing next to Zuko.

Zuko smiled as Jin wrapped her arms around him and rested his head on hers before he stood upright in shock. “My family! Everybody, come on!”


	9. Aftermath

Suki insisted on taking the lead as they rushed towards the royal apartments. As they rounded the corner, she saw Hira draping a blanket over a figure in the hall. Hira straightened and looked at the incoming figures, hand unconsciously falling to her sheathed katana. Zuko skidded to a stop in front of her and gasped out “My family?”

Hira winced slightly and Zuko raced through the open door, Suki gesturing for Hira to follow. Sokka glanced at the body being covered and recognized the water tribe boots. Reaching down with a trembling hand, he gently lifted the blanket and saw Malina. Rocking back, Sokka’s eyes prickled with tears and Suki knelt next to him, gently rubbing a circle on his back. Sokka’s voice cracked as he turned towards Suki, “I was fighting in the wrong spot again.” Suki wrapped her arms around Sokka as he sobbed into her shoulder.

* * *

Hakoda chipped away at the rocks holding Kiyi down as Ursa held Azula’s head in her lap, gently stroking her hair. Zuko burst into the garden with Hira on his heels. Zuko glanced over at the women and Hakoda as Hira murmured Noren’s fate quietly to him. Zuko walked over and placed his hand on Hakoda’s shoulder. “Can you send Aang back here, please? He’s in the front garden.”

Hakoda nodded as he stood, placing his hand on Zuko’s shoulder, “I’m sorry, son.” 

Zuko nodded, “As am I.” He settled on the grass next to his mother and wrapped his arm around her.

* * *

Hakoda stepped outside and saw Katara standing with her back to the door facing Aang who was talking to her with a concerned expression. “Aang, Kiyi is trapped in the ground. Can you earthbend her out?

Aang glanced up in acknowledgement, but his hand went to Katara’s arm as he asked a question Hakoda couldn’t hear. Katara’s head jerked in an abrupt nod and Aang started to reach for her, but she flinched away from him. She dropped her head and Aang raised his hands in an it’s ok gesture. He walked past Hakoda, nodding sadly at him as they passed. Hakoda stepped forward and walked over to Katara. Before he could ask what was wrong, Katara turned and Hakoda saw the blood. He swore and raced to his daughter’s side, not even registering her words as he frantically asked, “Where were you hit? You’re bleeding…” 

Katara shoved him back, “IT’S NOT MINE!!” They stared at each other for a minute before Katara crumbled and stumbled into her father, barely getting her words out through her tears, “It’s Malina’s. She’s…She’s…” Tears wracked her body as she sobbed into her father’s chest.

Hakoda felt an uncomfortably familiar wall of grief slam into him and the only thing keeping him upright was the need to be strong for his sobbing daughter, his own tears soaking into Katara’s hair.

* * *

Ursa stood in the hall next to her bedroom door. Zuko held Kiyi against his shoulder, “Mom, I’ll take her tonight.”

“Go w’h Zuzu,” Kiyi said dully, exhausted from the adrenaline and grief.

Ursa nodded at her two kids, then looked at Azula being carried out on a stretcher. Before she could say anything, Hira placed her hand on Ursa’s elbow. “My lady, Azula will taken to the infirmary and we’ll have guards discretely nearby.”

Aang stepped forward. “I’ll move to a room near the infirmary as well.”

Ursa looked around, “Thank you all,” she murmured as they nodded and spoke condolences that she didn’t hear.

She walked into the room and lay in their, no, her bed. She stared at the ceiling in a haze of grief for some time before she slowly rolled towards Noren’s side of the bed. As her head touched the pillow, the motion dislodged the poetry book and slid it towards her. She held the book and opened it to the bookmarked page where Noren had penned a brief note. 

_My darling Dragon Empress,_

_I always knew this day was a possibility ever since we returned to the palace. I have no regrets about the time we’ve shared together or the decision I made to give you and Kiyi more time to escape. Zuko will blame himself, since he talked to me once about more guards, but with the ever-present threat of discontent and outrage at Zuko, more guards would mean more chances of a traitor in our midst. I told Zuko that I could act as a final line of defense against external assassins, but a traitor would endanger you and Kiyi and I’d rather die than place you at risk. Don’t grieve for me in a way that stops you from living your life. I love you, Ursa, and I have always loved you from the first time we met taking the stage together._

_Your loving Emperor,_

_Noren_

Ursa sniffled and wiped away the tears, looking at the poem where Noren had highlighted the final stanza.

Yet this inconstancy is such

As you too shall adore;

I could not love thee (Dear) so much,

Lov’d I not Honour more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. This was an emotional one to write, but I hope you enjoyed the fic. The final poem is To Lucasta, Going to the Wars by Richard Lovelace: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44658/to-lucasta-going-to-the-wars
> 
> I have a Tumblr and Reddit account if you want to discuss my fanfics or see fanart that I'm finding on Tumblr, links in my bio.
> 
> Comments and Kudos appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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